A method for operating a communications system is disclosed, for example, in the specification of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard “IEEE standard for information technology, telecommunications and information exchange between systems, local and metropolitan area networks, specific requirements, Part 15.4: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Low-rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (LR-WPANs), IEEE Computer Society, Oct. 1, 2003”. According to this standard, a communications system in the form of a so-called “Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)” is used for transmitting data over comparatively short distances. In this case, an appropriate communications system can consist of a plurality of network nodes which can be arranged, for example, in a star formation around a coordination node in the form of a so-called “PAN coordinator”. The network nodes in the communications system can each be assigned an address in the form of a so-called short address for communicating within the communications system by the coordination node. Here, the network nodes are also designated as devices in accordance with the standard.
Particularly in the field of automation technology, there is a requirement for process values of sensors and actuators to be exchanged predictably, reliably and with a guaranteed latency. The known method also provides the option of using a transmission frame in the form of a so-called superframe for transmitting data. In addition to time slots, which can be accessed concurrently by all network nodes in the communications system, this also makes so-called “guaranteed time slots” (GTS) available. Appropriate guaranteed time slots are characterized in that, within the transmission frame, they are each made exclusively available to one of the network nodes in the communications system for sole, i.e. competition-free, use for transmitting data. With conventional methods, this occurs such that the coordination node in the form of the “coordinator” assigns one or more of the appropriate guaranteed time slots to the respective network node based on its address, i.e. based on its short address, for example. The consequence of this is that only the network node identified by the respective address may use this guaranteed time slot for transmitting data within the transmission frame. This ensures that the respective network node is able to transmit data within a guaranteed latency to the coordination node, i.e. maintained under all circumstances.